Guest Editorial

A friend of mine recently shared this story:

When asked if he would be willing to volunteer for a shift in the Deutsches Fest Biergarten, a local resident reportedly asked where the money made at the Biergarten would go. He was told that it went to the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, followed by some information about that organization and what it does (or attempts to do) for the community. At that point, he replied, “I don’t see what’s in it for me,” and declined to volunteer.

I was a little surprised at the response, and not a little dumbfounded. Also irritated.

Because it seems to be blind to that “big picture” we keep hearing about. Or in Odessa’s case, a not so big picture. Just a picture that is bigger than any individual’s or family’s or business’ or church’s or . . . you get my drift. Small towns throughout America continue to be challenged by economic and societal changes. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Odessa has been fortunate so far.

For many people who did not originate in a small town, an event like Deutsches Fest might not make a lot of sense. But as a friend of mine once said (and I’m paraphrasing here), “We’d have to have a hell of a lot of bake sales to make this much.” She was referring to the fact that her church relies on funds raised during Deutsches Fest to meet their missions for the year.

Over the years, the groups and individuals who use Deutsches Fest as a fundraising opportunity have changed. Fraternal organizations have declined, and school and other groups have taken up some of the slack. But the basic benefit of the event has not changed. It is an event that brings quite a bit of business to our town. Maybe this potential volunteer doesn’t shop locally – I am aware that there are quite a few residents who don’t, and that’s too bad (but that’s another story.)

I am happy to say that my business benefits from the event just by increased traffic in the door. And I am sure that others do as well. Not everyone. It’s hard to see how an event such as Fest can benefit the attorneys or insurance salespeople or farm equipment companies. I continue to believe that it does. I continue to believe that any event that benefits some of us ultimately benefits all of us.

I am more than willing to concede that the Chamber of Commerce in Odessa has allowed itself to become more of an event planning committee than a Chamber of Commerce. I also have to say that it has done a darned good job. And the Chamber leadership has been working hard at fine tuning its mission and operations. As to benefits to the community, there is an awesome commercial kitchen at the community center, just waiting for an entrepreneur to walk in the door and start producing a locally-made product that could be marketed anywhere. There are annual scholarship programs which benefit our high school graduates. There have been and will continue to be educational programs for business owners and employees to help them succeed.

Now, maybe that person is already heavily committed to volunteering at Deutschesfest. Perhaps there really just wasn’t time left on his personal calendar for one more thing. Perhaps he has perfected the art of saying “no” – something I should probably work on. I don’t know.

What I do know is that without volunteers, we can’t do anything. And at the risk of sounding like I think I’m JFK, perhaps this gentleman should do something for the good of the community even if there isn’t anything in it for him.